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Plan that left local groups without TDC grants worked as planned

The dozen St. Johns County art and cultural organizations that didn’t make the cut for Tourist Development Council grants earlier this month should stop hoping for a break.

The council voted unanimously Thursday to accept the TDC funding panel recommendations.

Chairman Scott Bartosch said the funding panel did exactly what the TDC wanted it to do.

“Not everyone gets a grant,” he said. “These grants are not a gift. They’re competitive. People think taxpayer money is the same as bed tax money. But bed tax money is severely restricted and severely monitored.”

He added that every year, someone who didn’t get funded claims the process is unfair.

Bartosch said this year’s selection process is entirely different from that of previous years. Before, the funding committee would review applications and and argue the merits of each, sometimes asking questions of the applicant, and then vote on whether to issue the grant.

After the St. Johns County Commission oversaw a major revision of the TDC last year, the new process is to score each application on a scale of 100 points.

The more people a group can show it brings into St. Johns County, the more points it gets. Those organizations that score below 70 points do not get funded.

“That makes sense,” Bartosch said.

Nancy Perry, president of First Coast Opera, said her group requested $5,544 this year but did not get it.

“We had been funded for many years,” Perry said. “I really thought everything was pretty much OK.”

However, TDC Executive Director Glenn Hastings said there might still be help available.

“We may still have the ability to help some of these organizations with advertising,” Hastings said.

Some organizations may be able to piggy-back their ads onto TDC ads that run regionally or nationwide, he said.

This may help get them customers outside the county and help their visitor numbers next year.

Anyone interested should talk to Hastings or Andy Witt, director of the St. Johns County Cultural Council, who oversaw the funding panel.

Witt said marketing money for St. Augustine’s forthcoming Picasso exhibit in January will be available.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity,” he said.

“We need to make sure we have the time and resources to fully exploit that brand. We know the city will need some additional marketing help.”

Perry told the TDC board that her opera company wants to present Puccini’s last opera, “Turandot,” in February.

The company has already produced a string of the Italian composer’s previous operas, such as “La boheme,” “Tosca” and “Madama Butterfly.”

“We did not mention that in our grant proposal because we did not have this information,” she said.

But from now on, she said, her organization will conduct audience surveys to prove to the funding panel next year that a precise number of people visited St. Johns County to see the opera.

TDC member Ken Bryan said customer and visitor surveys could also help beef up the applications of other groups.

“This is the first year. It’s a process we’re all learning,” Bryan said.

Four other organizations were also denied grants but hadn’t asked for specific dollar amounts. These are St. Augustine Community Orchestra, Fort Mose Historical Society, Don Ausman Foundation and the Children’s Museum of St. Johns.

Commissioner Rich O’Brien of St. Augustine Beach served on the funding panel.

He said, “You have to make tough decisions. A friend may be applying, but at the end of the day, you have to do what’s best for St. Johns County.”